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Content Type: News & Analysis
Image: The Great Hack publicity still, courtesy of Netflix.
This is a review of the documentary 'The Great Hack' originally published on IMDb.
This documentary is a fascinating account of The Facebook/Cambridge Analytica data scandal.
In early 2018, Cambridge Analytica became a household name. The company had exploited the personal data of millions of Facebook users, without their knowledge or consent, and used it for political propaganda.
At a running time of almost two hours, The Great…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Privacy International has joined over 30 organisations working with migrants and refugees to write to the newly appointed British Home Secretary to raise a number of pressing issues, which require action if the immigration and asylum system is to regain the trust of the public.
The letter below was sent to the Home Secretary on Wednesday, 30 July 2019.
Find out more about PI’s work to demand a more humane approach to immigration based on the principles of fairness, accessibility, and respect…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Picture Credit: US AID
US President Trump has been cutting aid to Central America, including a surprise cut of approximately $500m in aid to the “Northern Triangle” countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, apparently as punishment for “doing absolutely nothing” to prevent emigration to the US.
What remains of the funds is largely and deliberately being repurposed for spending on the US’s own security interests: indeed, one area which his…
Content Type: Long Read
image from portal gda (cc)
Many people are still confused by what is 5G and what it means for them. With cities like London, New York or San Francisco now plastered with ads, talks about national security, and the deployment of 5G protocols being treated like an arms race, what happens to our privacy and security?
5G is the next generation of mobile networks, which is meant to be an evolution of the current 4G protocols that mobile providers have deployed over the last decade, and there are…
Content Type: Long Read
Photo by David Werbrouck on Unsplash
This is an ongoing series about the ways in which those searching for abortion information and procedures are being traced and tracked online. This work is part of a broader programme of work aimed at safeguarding the dignity of people by challenging current power dynamics, and redefining our relationship with governments, companies, and within our own communities. As an enabling right, privacy plays an important role in supporting the exercise of…
Content Type: News & Analysis
While people may think that providing their photos and data is a small price to pay for the entertainment FaceApp offers, the app raises concerns about privacy, manipulation, and data exploitation—although these concerns are not necessarily unique to FaceApp.
According to FaceApp's terms of use and privacy policy, people are giving FaceApp "a perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully-paid, transferable sub-licensable license" to use or publish the…
Content Type: Long Read
By Valentina Pavel, PI Mozilla-Ford Fellow, 2018-2019
Our digital environment is changing, fast. Nobody knows exactly what it’ll look like in five to ten years’ time, but we know that how we produce and share our data will change where we end up. We have to decide how to protect, enhance, and preserve our rights in a world where technology is everywhere and data is generated by every action. Key battles will be fought over who can access our data and how they may use it. It’s time to take…
Content Type: News & Analysis
This blogpost is a preview of the full 'Our Data Future' story, produced by Valentina Pavel, PI Mozilla-Ford Fellow, 2018-2019.
2030.
Four worlds.
One choice. Which one is yours?
All aboard! Time to step into the imaginarium. Explore four speculative future scenarios, examining how different ways of governing data create vastly different worlds. How is our digital environment going to look like in ten years' time? What’s going to be our relationship with data?
Each of us has a role in…
Content Type: Long Read
Photo By: Cpl. Joel Abshier
‘Biometrics’ describes the physiological and behavioural characteristics of individuals. This could be fingerprints, voice, face, retina and iris patterns, hand geometry, gait or DNA profiles. Because biometric data is particularly sensitive and revealing of individual’s characteristics and identity, it can be applied in a massive number of ways – and has the potential to be gravely abused.
Identification systems across the world increasingly rely on…
Content Type: Long Read
Whilst innovation in technology and data processing have provided individuals and communities with new opportunities to exercise their fundamental rights and freedoms, this has not come without risks, and these opportunities have not been enjoyed by all equally and freely.
Our relationships and interactions with governments and industry have become increasingly dependent on us providing more and more data and information about ourselves. And, it’s not only the information we provide knowingly…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Increasingly every interaction migrants have within the immigration enforcement framework requires the processing of their personal data. The use of this data and new technologies are today driving a revolution in immigration enforcement which risks undermining people's rights and requires urgent attention.
This is why Privacy International, and several migrant and digital rights organisation, joined a formal complaint filed by the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented…
Content Type: News & Analysis
In July 2019, the UK House of Commons' Science and Technology Committee published a report on Digital Government. Lying not so subtlely amongst it's recommendations is this: "The Government should facilitate a national debate on single unique identifiers for citizens to use for accessing public services along with the right of the citizen to know exactly what the Government is doing with their data."
It's been pointed out that this is basically some of the worst features of an ID card…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Today, the British Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced a partnership between the NHS and Amazon to use the NHS’s website content as the source for the answer given to medical question, such as “Alexa, how do I treat a migraine?”
While we welcome Amazon’s use of a trusted source of information for medical queries, we are however extremely concerned about the nature and the implications of this partnership. Amazon is a company with a worrying track record when it comes to the way they…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Today, Privacy International, along with nine other NGOs including Liberty and Amnesty International, attended a hearing before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to revisit the Court's first ruling on our case challenging UK mass surveillance and intelligence sharing. In September 2018, the First Section of the ECtHR ruled that the UK government's mass interception program violates the rights to privacy and freedom of expression. Notwithstanding the positve aspects…
Content Type: News & Analysis
By Ailidh Callander, Legal OfficerThis piece first appeared in the 500th edition of the Scottish Legal Action Group Journal (2019 SCOLAG (500, June) 124Political scandal, stronger regulation on privacy but what about social protection?In an increasingly digitalised and data driven world, an era of government and corporate mass data exploitation, the right to privacy and data protection and what this means in practice is more important than ever. Surveillance is a power generator and opportunity…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Citing inaccuracy, major manufacturer declines to combine facial recognition and body worn cameras - but accurate or not, real-time facial recognition should never be coupled with police body-worn cameras
Axon Enterprise Inc.—a major manufacturer of police body-worn cameras and digital evidence management systems that also partners with Microsoft to provide services to law enforcement—announced that the company would refrain from equipping police body-worn cameras with facial…
Content Type: Long Read
Everyday objects and devices that can connect to the Internet -- known as the Internet of Things (IoT) or connected devices -- play an increasing role in crime scenes and are a target for law enforcement. Exploiting new technologies that are in our homes and on our bodies as part of criminal investigations and for use as evidence, raises new challenges and risks that have not been sufficiently explored.
We believe that a discussion on the exploitation of IoT by law enforcement would…
Content Type: Long Read
Image courtesy of Michael Coghlan
The long-speculated Facebook cryptocurrency is finally here! Libra!
Libra Association, an entity co-founded by Facebook, has announced the creation of a new cryptocurrency, Libra, "a simple global currency and financial infrastructure that empowers billions of people".
The white paper that outlines the rationale for the new currency makes a number of heady statements, some which anyone who cares about rights should commend -- and some which should…
Content Type: News & Analysis
It's a big question, have you purchased a card for your local surveillance camera on Surveillance Camera Day?
Yes, Surveillance Camera Day is a real thing and happens on 20 June.
Perhaps your local community could create a bingo card to see who knows where all the local cameras are. Are there any on your local bins, how about the lampposts or a billboard?
Have you had a facial recognition van in your local community? Did you see the police helicopter crew video camera…
Content Type: Long Read
The UK public, regulators, and parliamentarians have all expressed concern about the wide use of third-party data by all political parties in the UK and its impact on privacy and democracy. In the week the remaining six candidates to be the UK’s next Prime Minister are reduced to two, Privacy International takes a look at their privacy policies to illustrate how such policies can be used to identify the use of third-party data by political candidates from all political parties.
The…
Content Type: Long Read
Join our campaign with Liberty and write to your local Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC). Your PCC works on your behalf to hold your local police force to account, so you can share your concerns about police spying tech with them.
You can download our new campaign pack (pdf link at the bottom of the page) to learn more about the police surveillance technology that might already be being used in your local area, and find out what you can do to get your police force to be more accountable to…
Content Type: Long Read
IMAGE SOURCE: "My Phone Bought This" by oliver t is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
LAST UPDATE: 16th May 2022.
Mandatory SIM card registration laws require people to provide personal information, including a valid ID or even their biometrics, as a condition for purchasing or activating a SIM card. Such a requirement allows the state to identify the owner of a SIM card and infer who is most likely making a call or sending a message at any given time.
SIM card…
Content Type: News & Analysis
One of the UK’s largest telecommunications operators, BT, has said to Privacy International that a report claiming it “co-produces malware” with a surveillance company for the GCHQ is inaccurate – but hasn’t said why or given any more details.
The accusation was made by C5IS – a shadowy online publication claiming to be “the most widely read source of information on surveillance technologies”. In its Big Black Book of Electronic Surveillance, it claims that SS8, a…
Content Type: Long Read
When you go abroad, you expect to show your passport right? But what if immigration authorities wanted access to your Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts before they let you enter a country? What if they wanted to vet you based on your updates, photos, likes, retweets and even your DMs?
We think social media companies, who make literally billions of dollars out of you, and wield massive power and influence, should challenge governments on YOUR behalf. They should be protecting their users…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Privacy International has joined a global coalition of privacy campaigners, tech companies, and technology experts to respond to proposals by British intelligence chiefs aimed at allowing them access to encrypted messaging apps such as WhatsApp or Signal.
If implemented, the proposals would allow government authorities to force messaging platforms to silently add a law enforcement participant to a group chat or call.
Such a capability poses serious threats to…
Content Type: News & Analysis
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency at the centre of carrying out President Trump’s “zero tolerance” approach to immigration enforcement and family separation, has for years been contracting a US surveillance company to intercept peoples’ communications across the United States. The wide potential scope for the use of the powers raises concerns about their use for the real-time surveillance of people, families, and communities caught up in Trump’s immigration crackdown…
Content Type: Long Read
Like millions of other people, you use messaging apps, social media, share, read and watch content on your phone or computer. If that’s the case then hundreds of AdTech companies collect and exchange your data every single day. AdTech, a short form of advertisement technology, is a catch-all term that describes tools and services that connect advertisers with target audiences and publishers. It’s also a multi-billion-dollar industry that is facing investigations by Data Protection Authorities…
Content Type: Long Read
OPTION 1 - LIMIT TARGETED ADVERTISING
A simple step you can take is turning on strong (as possible) privacy settings on the social media platforms you use. Social media platforms play a key role in targeting ads at you – and they facilitate the use of your data in ways that you probably wouldn’t like. We've made guides to show you how to minimise the targeted ads you see on social media. These steps can help make advertising less targeted, meaning that an advertiser, in theory, will knows less…
Content Type: Key Resources
Ukraine held Presidential elections in April 2019. In the run up to the election, there was much debate on the role of Facebook.
Content Type: Key Resources
In the lead up to the 2017 German federal elections, there was much debate about the benefits and dangers of data analytics for political purposes. There were some controversies concerning the use of data and the lack of information provided by political parties also raised concerns.